'Most Notably' (9 February 2026)

We open the second edition of 'Most Notably' with a reference to Parliament's Nieuwmeester Dome, which was handed over to National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza on 6 February 2026 (EWN) – a week later than originally intended. 'Most Notably' reported the delay and explored associated developments in our 2 February 2026 edition, since when the only official pronouncement on the matter has been a rather terse parliamentary media statement issued the day before the handover as a "reminder". With this year's debates on the 12 February 2026 State of the Nation Address expected to take place in the refurbished dome, we hope to include some 'before and after' pictures of the facility in our next edition. This is bearing in mind that the dome was last used in April 2025.

agriculture and b-bbee

Contrary to a 3 February 2026 Business Day article on this year's "quotas" for agricultural exports to European Union (EU) member states, "transformation credentials" have long featured in government’s "market access permit allocation system". Gazetted on 30 January 2026, the procedures to be followed when applying, administering and allocating export quotas under the 2016 Southern African Development Community (SADC)-EU economic partnership agreement are much the same as those published on 3 October 2024 for the following year (2025).

Issued under the 2003 Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Act, as amended (SAFLII), annual iterations of these procedures go back as far as September 2017 – two months before the publication of the agricultural sector's revised B-BBEE codes of good practice. The sector's B-BBEE charter has been in place since March 2008, underpinning a commitment by the Department of Agriculture to facilitate "the development and implementation of the sector codes ... (and) transformation frameworks in partnership with all ... major stakeholders".

Against that backdrop, the Business Day article's heading ("BEE status becomes main factor in EU export permits") amounts to misinformation – as does a Legalbrief Today caption presumably informed by the article's contents.

the ubiquitous sector/industry 'masterplan'

Rarely attracting mainstream media attention, the Department of Trade, Industry & Competition's (DTIC's) masterplan programme nevertheless did return briefly to centrestage on 27 January 2026 (IOL). Apparently triggered by a meeting with the National Assembly's Trade, Industry & Competition Committee on the automotive industry masterplan's implementation, a departmental media statement referred to the "comprehensive" policy review now under way. This with the intention of addressing sector-specific "challenges".

The statement was followed by a committee press release among other things noting threats to the industry posed by "competition from cheaper vehicle imports, ongoing global economic uncertainty, and the global transition from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles". The press release also called for "deeper localisation, job creation and meaningful transformation".

A November 2025 National Planning Commission advisory note refers to "over 21 sector masterplans" – nevertheless questioning whether they've resulted in "significant gains" for the industries concerned or the economy in general.

Launched in 2019 under a "re-imagined industrial strategy" (mentioned multiple times in the DTIC's May 2024 industrial policy and strategy review but never formalised in an official document of its own), the programme is seen to be "pivotal" to achieving inclusive growth and economic revitalisation. That's according to a "guide" on masterplan preparation, development and implementation published approximately three years after the launch – with a "toolkit".

Reflecting "the insights and experience of 15 masterplans in various stages of development", the guide refers to "myriad" complex "cross-cutting issues" requiring "high-level executive attention and dedicated human resources from all three social partners" for effective implementation. It also notes the fundamental importance of a "different way of working" in arriving at a "co-created masterplan" with committed social partner buy-in.

Against that backdrop, as things now stand only eight masterplans are listed on a DTIC website page dedicated to the programme. It has yet to be updated to include:

• a "national integrated small enterprise development strategic framework (masterplan)" gazetted in February 2023

• a tourism masterplan gazetted in October that year

• a medical technology masterplan published in May 2024, and

• a renewal energy masterplan dated December 2023 but only made public in April 2025.

artisanal mining

Gazetted in March 2022, government's policy on artisanal and small-scale mining featured in Mineral & Petroleum Resource Development Minister Gwede Mantashe's speaking notes for an address at the 3 February 2026 launch of the second leg of a SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) inquiry into the "policy framework around artisanal mining". According to the Minister, the policy outlines measures intended to "formalise the sector and enable lawful economic participation, primarily for South African citizens and legally documented individuals".

Apparently ready for implementation at the time of publication, the policy underpins the work of the Department of Mineral Resources & Energy small-scale mining directorate in regulating the activities concerned with the aim of ensuring that they're "undertaken in a safe, secure and environmentally responsible manner".

The SAHRC inquiry's second leg was prompted by 'the unavailability of certain key stakeholders' for hearings during a first leg held from 1 to 3 October 2025. The media statement clarifying this also notes the inquiry's overarching objective, which is to explore the "impact of artisanal mining on the human rights of surrounding communities and the scope and tactics employed in Operation Vala Umgodi" (isiZulu for 'close the hole').

Welcoming the inquiry, a Lawyers for Human Rights October 2024 press release underscored the importance of exposing the "troubling police tactics (used) in responding to unregulated mining, ... (and) the urgent need for a rights-based approach to address(ing) the socio-economic, health, and environmental challenges faced by mining-affected communities". This followed a much publicised crisis involving illegal miners trapped in a disused Stilfontein mineshaft between October 2024 and January 2025.

A National Joint Operational & Intelligence Structure (Natjoints) March 2025 presentation on Operation Vala Umgodi refers to it as a "national integrated plan on illegal mining" in force since December 2023. The document includes information on the Stilfontein incident, using the isiZulu term "zama zamas" (isiZulu for 'chance takers') to describe the miners involved.

As far as can be ascertained, there have been no official pronouncements on the status of draft legislation supposedly being developed to give practical effect to the 2022 policy – or on any recent interventions under the auspices of Operation Vala Umgodi.

SABC funding ('a gordian knot'?)

On 6 February 2026, the National Assembly's Communications & Digital Technologies Committee met for a briefing on the SA Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) funding model now in its final stages of development. As has been widely reported, an SABC SOC Ltd Bill tabled in Parliament in 2023 has been in limbo ever since November 2024, when Communications & Digital Technologies Minister Solly Malatsi announced his intention to withdraw it – apparently flying in the face of procedural protocols, which is why the announcement came to nothing.

In the Minister's view, one of the Bill's shortcomings is that it makes no provision for a "credible funding model" – instead, allowing government "three years to develop a sustainable framework".

According to his input during the 6 February 2026 committee meeting, the model now being finalised will be added to the Bill, although no details were provided on the process to be followed. Will the Bill be withdrawn with Cabinet's approval (one requirement apparently overlooked in November 2024), revised to include the funding model and re-tabled? In which case, will stakeholders and other members of the general public be invited to comment on the revised version before it's re-introduced? A MyBroadband article on the meeting tends to suggest as much, although the timeframe apparently mentioned by the Minister is rather tight.

Whatever the case, one slide in the funding model briefing's presentation document is especially telling.

Referring to the SABC funding dilemma as 'a wicked problem or gordian knot', the slide claims that more than 50% of South African households rely on social grants – and that, for approximately half that group, grants are the primary source of income. Which may be why MyBroadband quotes the Minister as having described replacing the TV licence scheme with a household levy as a “terrible idea”.

High levels of unemployment and debt, the "culture of non-payment" and fiscal constraints exacerbate the problem, tightening the knot.

To avoid compromising the integrity of the funding model development process, the meeting was closed to members of the public and media when options now being considered were presented and discussed. However, committee chair Khusela Sangoni-Diko's remarks in re-opening proceedings to observers included a reference to "many" of them being "viable". She also alluded to the importance of discussions with the committee on "how the model will be incorporated into legislation" – asking the Minister for a "timeline". Excluded from the meeting's official video recording, his response may have been the source of information shared in the MyBroadband article.

eGazette

The erratic availability of the end-of-the-working-week's composite National Government and National Regulation eGazettes has been a source of frustration ever since the server crashed in February 2021. A panel appointed the following year to investigate the problem blamed it on "negligence" and "mismanagement" (The Citizen) – but despite sporadic returns to some semblance of reliability, the composite eGazettes have fallen into a pattern of materialising at all times of day and night, as well as during weekends. Late publications are usually backdated and may even be slipped in between earlier notices.

On 19 February 2025, following an oversight visit to the Government Printing Works head office in Tshwane, the National Assembly Home Affairs Committee issued a media statement referring to:

• "information and technology challenges"

• management's "inability to create a harmonious working relationship with workers", and

• "expensive machines ... lying idle".

A detailed committee report tabled in the House three months later speaks volumes (parliamentary papers, page 15). However, as far as can be ascertained, Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber has been silent on the matter.

In January 2026, Government Printing Works operations manager Sihle Ngubane issued a notice announcing the "reintroduction and enforcement" of procedures to be followed by government departments and entities submitting documents for publication in the eGazette. Among other things, the notice refers to a "forms" folder that includes a list of closing and publication dates for 2026, as well as the forms to be used for documents traditionally published in the gazette (example).

Perhaps personnel responsible for the gazetting process are struggling to meet the new deadlines, which might explain why so many of this year's composite National Government and National Regulations publications have been relatively modest in volume. Publishing separate gazettes during the remainder of the week appears to have become the norm.

Until next Monday ...

Policy Watch SA

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